Rangefinder’s 30 Rising Stars of Wedding Photography 2017

I’m very excited to announce – and still pretty stoked – that I’ve been named one of Rangefinder Magazine rising stars of wedding photography 2017. Back in July, I was invited to submit a portfolio of images alongside 200 other photographers worldwide. The magazine issues each year a list of 30 wedding photographers to watch and that have been shooting weddings full time for 5 years or less. Just to be invited by itself was a huge honour for me and a huge thank you to the person who nominated me (please let me know who you are!). After lots of coffees and going through lots of images, I sent my selection and just put it out of my mind.

Until I got an email early September with a few words: “I’m here to tell you that YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN AS A 30 RISING STAR OF 2017!”

I was speechless. To say that I feel incredibly grateful and very humbled is an understatement.

As any competition, it won’t necessarily change everything, it won’t mean that I don’t need to continue to work hard or that I’m at the top of my game. But it’s an amazing acknowledgment of hard work, so the first thing i will do is to take time to pause, notice…and take it in.

I think what am the most proud of, is my achievement in the past few years. I’m not really the type of person that take time to stop and notice it….Not many of you might know but I’ve transitioned from working as an intellectual property legal counsel to a photographer. It wasn’t an easy process. After years of using more of my left brain, I had to let my right side slowly grow and express itself, allowing the creative part of me to come out. I’ve also learned to run my own business, and along the way, added two babies to our little family.

Women of my generation have way more freedom to be ourselves then our grandmothers or even mothers ever had. However, society is not fully up to speed yet… We can be independent, study, have carreers and decide to have children or not, but we are still judged for our decisions. Finding balance is quite difficult. Learning to juggle (like maintaining a full time job with part time hours) it all is one of the most challenging aspect of my life. It’s not been perfect, it’s also been hard some days. It’s still hard and totally imperfect most of the time. But I have no regrets and I’m so damn happy I decided to change careers and pursue my passion.

I guess what I’m saying is that I’m proud and thankful. I’m thankful for all the couples that have trusted in me in capturing their memories in my own artistic way and invited me into their homes or taking me to amazing places around the world.

I’m proud to be listed with all the talented honourees of this year (full galleries here), especially my hugely talented friend Naomi Goggin. This is my 5th year full time so I’ve just made the cut.

I’m thankful to have a family that supported me in this adventure from day one, especially my man. I’m lucky to have the best partner in life I could ask for to share this crazy and exciting life we have. You always have my back and we are a team. Without you, I wouldn’t be doing this. I love you.

So before I go back to work and crazy life, I’m gonna take a night off to take it in and celebrate.